


I said I'd never show my cards

by sandyk



Series: worth it [8]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Gen, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Temporary Character Death, Time Loop, lots of injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:33:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29638161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sandyk/pseuds/sandyk
Summary: Peter is stuck in a time loop during the final battle with Thanos. (V. different from IW because it's an AU world to begin with.)
Relationships: Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: worth it [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1750705
Comments: 6
Kudos: 24
Collections: Trope Bingo: Round Sixteen





	I said I'd never show my cards

**Author's Note:**

> For the trope bingo spot inspired by art (linked at the end). Thanks E for the art! Title from Lilly Hiatt's Candy Lunch. Thanks A!!

Peter flits around the perimeter. Summer is hot and gross in Manhattan and the suit only helps a little. He is getting people to run. Though he wonders why they aren't already running, it's hard to miss the alien donut floating over the river and all the explosions and frightening weird bad guys flying around. 

The scary head big bad is Thanos. Dr. Strange and Thor called him Thanos. Peter hasn't gotten the name of Thanos's minions, but they're all very strong and very powerful. Peter could maybe take one, maybe. He's very strong even if he almost never uses that. 

He calls MJ from the suit. "You should go," he says. 

"I'm in Queens," MJ says. "Same as your aunt. You guys should turn it around or win before it comes here."

"Or we lose," Peter says. "I'd feel better if you and May and Ned were heading towards Michigan, you know?"

MJ is quiet. Then she says, "Are you scared?"

Peter pauses. He's kicking down a door and the crack is very loud. "Hi, I'm Spider-man, you need to run." The poor lady cowering in the bathroom starts crying, but also, thankfully, she runs. Peter waits until he sees her leave the building. He says, "Dad's scared so I'm scared. Also, just plain scared."

MJ says, "I don't know about leaving town. I'll go over to May's so I can hang out in your bunker. How's that?"

"Good, do that. Make sure Ned does, too. And everyone else in the building, too. It can hold about 30 people."

MJ says, "Okay. I'm going. Don't, don't die."

"You, too," Peter says. "I love you."

MJ says, "You always have to one up me. Jerkface. I super love you. Take that."

He's already cleared every floor of the building so he has Karen scan around the neighboring ones. No one around. Peter jumps off the roof to move a little closer to where people might still be. 

His danger tingle explodes in his head and he twists in the air just as some kind of lance comes at him. Since he twisted, the alien blade goes right through his shoulder. He flips again so he doesn't land in such a way his arm gets severed. He likes his arm. He is in so much pain. 

He lands on his feet and falls to his knees. He carefully removes the lance before falling on his back. So so much pain. All sorts of pain. Maybe even more than that time he got poisoned. 

Something is coming, someone threw this lance. He uses his good hand to maneuver it and as the bad guy minion jumps towards him, Peter gets ready. He pushes it sideways and slices. The minion grunts and there's something that could be an arm falling near Peter. "Fuck you," Peter says. He pushes himself up and jabs at the minion with the lance. Bad guy springs up and jumps back and back. Towards the combat Peter is not supposed to go near. 

Cap is suddenly in Peter's ear. "Spider-man, toss the lance up and towards here. We'll take care of it."

"I am pretty, I might be injured here," Peter says. "Throwing now with the arm that's not barely attached."

Tony is in Peter's ear, saying, "Please stop talking like that. And go somewhere safe."

Peter is watching the lance arc in the air when he hears screaming, his dad, someone else, a lot of other people. There's an explosion, things explode and the impact knocks Peter's back to the ground.

He opens his eyes. He's in mid swing, he's in mid swing? What the fuck. It's the same building he was in right before. He finds the same lady cowering in the bathroom and helps her get out. He calls MJ. "Hey, did you - am I in a time loop? Are you?"

MJ says, "This is the first time today you've called me. So it's just you."

"Shit," Peter says. "Go to May's, get Ned, get in the bunker. Do it quickly. Also, I love you. And you super love me. Gotta go."

She says she super super loves him and then goodbye. So the minion with the lance is on the way. Fucking time loops. Thanos had a lot of power, maybe he made it happen. Or someone else. Peter gets to the battle main space as fast as he can. 

Thanos is coming for Vision but Wanda is holding him off as Cap and Iron Man try to get close. Peter can't see Thor or Dr. Strange. Wanda is powerful enough to start a time loop. But maybe everything's okay this time.

Thor now just radiates lightning which is even scarier. He descends from above and hits Thanos and then pow, explosion again. In the split second before Peter is hurtled backwards into a very concrete building, he sees that Thanos managed to push aside Wanda and crush Vision's head before he went boom. 

Then he's mid swing again. He rescues the lady much more quickly this time, calls MJ as he swings to the battle and tries landing right behind Thanos and punching him real hard in the back of the knee. Thanos bats him which feels like his whole face and collarbone are broken in half. But he sees Thanos stumble, so that's good. Then Thor comes down and adds to Wanda, Iron Man and Cap and maybe Thanos dies? Everything explodes. But Vision is okay, this should be the end. 

Peter might have lost some teeth, there, it just hurts like hell. 

Then he's mid swing again. It's not Wanda? Not Wanda. 

So he saves the lady and swings to the battlefield and immediately attacks Thanos, gets smacked really hard in the chest as his ribs break and he dies. 

He's mid swing, gasping. Okay, he thinks, try again and don't die. He's going to have so much to talk about in therapy this week. 

He overcorrects for the chest smack and gets a more middle smack which is so painful and awful and it takes a few seconds longer to die. He still dies, bleeding out. This is a lot of trauma. 

He's mid swing, again. Save the lady, call MJ, go to battle, and try again. He kicks Thanos in the neck and flips away. This time Thanos only crushes his lower left leg. He lands on his back and starts to move again but lance minion is back again and gets a good swipe in. Peter does that cliche hold your stomach so your guts don't come out maneuver. He's finding all new realms of pain and fear today. 

He bites his lip and shuffles back somehow. He really can't take this again. 

Thor comes down and lightning fries everything around. Thanos dies as he raises his ostentatious glove, a purple glow over everything. Peter is kind of hoping for a mid swing reset. Except the pain continues. "Fuck," he says. "I want my dad."

Instead of his dad, there's a weird girl looking over him. She says, "Thanks for your help."

"You, you were doing this loop thing?"

The weird girl tilts her head. "Yes. I am possessing my younger self's body and doing this. I was doing this. My mother didn't die this time."

Peter gestures, as much as he can with his free hand. "So you just, you don't care about any of this?"

"I only care about my mother, yes." She looks him over without any emotion. She is the creepiest little kid ever. "But you'll be fine. Most everyone will be fine. I needed Thanos to die a few seconds later. You accomplished that. Thank you."

"Great," Peter says. "You're welcome." He coughs and it feels like a razor in his lungs. "Help," he says. 

Peter blinks. When he focuses again, his dad is standing over him and then crouching down. "You look awful," Peter says. "That armor is not doing well."

Tony's whole mask is gone and bits of the armor are gone. Tony's bleeding, too. Tony says, "Shut up, shut up." His voice is ragged. "We're getting you home."

He closes his eyes again. He hears more fighting, apparently Thanos's minions are still up for death and destruction. Hopefully weird girl got her precious mother somewhere safe. 

MJ tells him the rest while he's recovering in the medbay. Again. Even Peter's healing, Shuri and Dr. Cho are taking some time with his wounds. MJ sounds very shook up. He says, "You know, I bet I can get you a discount on some therapy."

"Shut up," she says. "I already have therapy. So after the one bad guy went boom, his minions went super violent. And Iron Man was mostly protecting you, of course, but they were pretty impressive minions. It took a while for the rest of them to kill those guys. I mean, like, ten minutes. Iron Man looked like an idiot, basically, since he was mostly just protecting you and only occasionally sending out drones and lasers, I guess. I knew why, but still."

"Thanks," Tony says as he comes in. "I appreciate the criticism."

"It wasn't really criticism," MJ says. "I was pointing out how it looked."

"I resisted my impulse to grab you and fly away," Tony says. "Pretty cool of me."

"Super cool," Peter says. "I got to bleed out for ten more minutes while you looked cool. Good plan, Dad. I won't tell May at all."

"I already told her," Tony says. "We talk about you all the time." Tony pats Peter's head. 

He doesn't tell MJ about the time loop. He does tell Tony and Cap. 

He tells his therapist all about it. He even shows Mx. Shiny his gnarly scars before they fade. He still wakes up a few times bracing himself to be mid swing.

**Author's Note:**

> Art piece is ONE HUNDRED LIVE AND DIE 1984, visible here: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/bruce-nauman/exhibition-guide


End file.
